North to the Basque Country. A two train journey.

Zaragoza. Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar behind us.

Our first train hop to get me out of the sunny Spanish coast was from Tarragona to Zaragoza. Rich could tell from the map landscape that it would not be a good idea, or fun, to pedal across the plains of Spain with a sun adverse travel companion like me. So trains it was. Mission: get Cheryl to greener northern climes. And it wasn’t even hot yet. So much for our Spanish bike touring, huh?

The Renfe media distances trains in Spain seem to have two distinct types of rolling stock.
These older train sets with narrow doors and three steps. This was our first train to Zaragoza.
With bike hooks – my nemesis. I can lift my bike up, but only if the train is not moving and I have loads of space. Rich is the bike lifter when it comes to trains.
The other type are these lovely wide doored newer train sets. Second train to Pamplona.
These newer cars have much easier access: one small step in and loads of leaning space.
Of course, you have no idea which train you will get. The waiting is stressful.

Bikes with touring gear on trains are not always, almost never, easy. Our first train hop ended up being the older and less bike friendly train cars. A train station attendant told us the bike car would either be the first or last car, so we waited at the beginning of the platform so the train would go by us and we could see the bike car. First car. Of course. High boarding. Of course. As we ran up the platform to reach the bike car, dodging other passengers and their rolly bags, we knew it would be a fire drill train boarding. Yank the bags off the bikes since they would be too heavy to lift up into the train. Rich grabs the bags and chucks them on the train as I stay on the platform with the bikes. Rich gets through the narrow door with one bike and by now the conductor is blowing his whistle so I grab my bike and attempt to jam it up the stairs as the doors start to close and I search for the door open button with both feet still on the platform and half of my bike through the closing door. We are saved by a super nice Belgium cyclist who is already on the train which started in Barcelona where he lives. He helps Rich get both bikes on and through a second narrow door to the bike hooks. Phew.

A strong rain had just passed so we got a nice ride to our hotel in Zaragoza and got to see this Zaha Hadid designed bridge.

When possible Rich books trains where we get on at the beginning of the run, and get off at the end. Mid trip stops like our boarding in Tarragona can be super challenging, especially if there are bikes other than ours and we have to navigate a bike dance – handlebars tangling, pedals hooking on spokes. Zaragoza was the last stop for this train so we had a calm exit. It would be a one night stay and a second train the next day. And that one ended up being a lovely low floor wide door media distance.

This was a fun first. The hotel brought out a ramp so we could wheel our bikes right into the lobby with panniers still attached.
The sky cleared and all of Zaragoza came out for a walk. Zaragoza is in the Aragon Region Spain. Not Basque yet.
First stop, the chocolate shop.
Do I have room in my panniers for a cake? No.
A beer, a glass of wine, and a little bag of chocolates, which I do have room for.
After a quick ramen dinner we headed out to join the crowds waiting for a Semena Santa procession. Our second of the trip.
Rich deployed his long arms for over the crowd shots.
This was a somber and somewhat chilling procession. The drum beats were very loud and los penitentes in their capirotes (cone-shaped hats) were numerous.
Our next train left after noon so we had time for a workout in the hotel gym, breakfast, and a walk to see the Roman bath ruins in town. These were discovered (uncovered) in 1972 when a neighbor noticed something in a construction site. Now it’s a museum and the ruins are protected by a canopy.
Off and a slight backtracking to the Zaragoza Miraflores train station, so we’d have an end to end journey. Get on at the start, get off at the end in Pamplona. Pamplona is in the Navarre province of Spain. Still not Basque yet.
Riding into Pamplona old town for a one night stay.
Now the Pinxos feasting begins in earnest.
How to choose?
All delicious.
Hello my darling Gildas. Olive, anchovy, and guindilla peppers. Spicy sweet little peppers pickled in wine vinegar.
Pamplona el ayuntamiento, or town hall.
Water prep. We each carry two bottles and an extra liter water bag. Once we realized how often we find taps of potable water in Basque towns we stopped filling the water bags and saved the weight.
My favorite sign in Spanish and Basque.
We would head out of Pamplona on a Camino route, such fun signage. From here we bike. No more train hops.
One route for walkers and one for bikers.
The Camino markers always make me happy. Fond memories.
The still snowy Pyrenees mountains in the distance. Hello friends.
The trail unwinds like a ribbon ahead of us.
Between Pamplona and Lorca.
It’s fun to follow a Camino route. This is the main Camino Frances. We got to greet pilgrims and be greeted with “Buen Camino”.
The Way. Vineyards. Hillside town.
A countryside stay at Casa Nahia Alojamiento Rural in Lorca. Home made dinner and a bottle of wine. Still in Navarre.
Our dining companion was a rainbow.
I love a good livestock sign. This cow’s legs look short to me.
Wait for the photographer!
Oh, actual cows. And yes, they do look a bit short legged. With those distinctive Spanish horns.
A quick stop in the town of Estella to buy pastries and start on the Vía Verde del Ferrocarril Vasco-Navarro. We part ways with the Camino Frances here. (Still in Navarre.)
Town was super busy with market day and pre Easter holiday shut down so we took our pastries up the trail a bit.
The Via Verde is one of the area’s repurposed rail lines. Tunnels and bridges, oh my!
Ah, trees. And shade.
Tunnels and nice riding surfaces.
Signage and sights to see.
The surface was quite good for riding, such a treat to ride long car free stretches. The route has a few nice hilly diversions where tunnels have not been restored.
Happily listening to a podcast on my Bluetooth speaker and pedaling along.
A valley near Metauten reminded us of the Grand Valley in Colorado with stunning mesas. Maybe a little greener.
You can see from the map that we were flirting with the foothills. Pamplona to the right, and far left is Vitoria Gastiez. There were good trails keeping us to the valleys, but inevitable climbs up those ridges.

The Vasco Navarro Railway Nature Trail Greenway follows the route of the Trenico, which between 1927 and 1967 ran between Estella-Lizarra and Mekolalde (Gipuzkoa)Between Estella-Lizarra, Vitoria-Gazteiz and Bergara (Gipuzkoa)
 Length: 133,7 km; 27 km in Navarre
Ancín, in Navarre. A stunning backdrop of oilseed rape. We know it as canola oil but it also used for industrial applications and animal feed. Most Americans call it mustard seed, and both are members of the Brassicaceae family and are cultivated for their oil-rich seeds.
Our destination for the night is not far away. The Easter holiday week has been challenging already and this night, Thursday the 17th of April is about to get even more logistically tough.
The rail trail gets us through the edge of the Codés mountains. Rail trails will only ever have about a 3-5% max incline, which makes riding them up quite easy, and riding down super fun.
More tunnels and bridges, oh my!
This trail is loaded with benches and picnic tables, which is so nice. And some are even in the shade.

We arrived in Campezo/Kanpezu – finally in the Basque Country – and checked in to our hostel, Aterpe Kanpezu Hostel, showered, threw a load of laundry in, hung it to dry and then wandered into town. We knew that finding an open restaurant in this small town the night before Good Friday would be challenging- but we assumed one of the restaurants would be open. Open yes, for drinks. Food? Not so much. After asking at three places which all said the kitchen would not be open tonight we were directed to a restaurant down one the main road next to a gas station which had the worst reviews. A range of rude, bad food, slow service. Yippee! They lived down to their reviews and the kitchen didn’t open until 9pm, at which point two hungry cycle tourists would be desperate. Part of the challenge was that now in the Basque Country we encountered what may have been our first Basque only speakers. However, they did have the most delicious home made tortillas, the Spanish potato and egg omelette. So two of those and a drink later we decided we’d survive and headed back to old town.

We found a small Bodega now open and got ice cream bars. Then a bar for drinks and Gildas (anchovies, olives, and peppers). It was an odd food progression but you do what you need to do on Good Friday Eve.
We joined the rest of the town enjoying the car free main street and watching the children play while enjoying our drinks.
The Spanish do public spaces so well. And everywhere we visited we enjoyed the Paseo, the traditional 6pm evening stroll.
Spring blooms over a weathered fence in town.
As we were getting on our bikes the morning of Good Friday we heard this van honking as it rolled through town. We realized it was the bread van so we hustled over to buy bread for our picnic lunch. Basque bread van.
Shadow photographer.
Headed to Vitoria Gasteiz for a two night stay. Only 38 kms, and all on rail trail, right? Not quite.
I’m not the only one who finds the cows picturesque.
The walled town of Antoñana and our fearless tour guide, Rich.
A slightly spooky tunnel.
And more bridges.
Good Friday Holiday meant a lot of road cyclists out.
Other cyclists meant we could follow them to a water source.
Trail side cuties.
A long dramatic tunnel.
And then the sound of a sad trombone. There is a tunnel through the highest part of the mountain ridge that is not open, so the trail diverts up and over.
Up up up.
But wait. What’s this?
My little flag is blowing forward! Tail wind to the rescue.
Hat deployed for warm day climb.
The summit. It must have been one long tunnel, it was quite a climb.
We had a nice decent on asphalt before joining the rail trail again for our final stretch in Vitoria Gastiez.
It’s nice to get off the trail and into towns. In Spain churches are our first try for benches for lunch.
This one came with a friendly dog who would have happily shared our lunch. You know, to be helpful.
I think I will always recognize the shape of a Basque church and spire.
We made it to Vitoria-Gasteiz, which is the capital of the Basque Autonomous Community and where we will spend two nights.

Up next, our time in the Basque mountains and why I am now a huge fan of the Basque.

The Happy Travelers. Looking forward to a rest day in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

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cbink

After decades of living and working in wonderful San Francisco we gave it all up to travel the world. Not owning a car allowed us to save money and live hyper-locally. Now we’re living around the globe. Follow along to see where we are and what cats I manage to pet.

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